


purple and blue

by openended



Series: Olivia Shepard [11]
Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Dorks in Love, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-21
Updated: 2013-12-21
Packaged: 2018-01-05 09:09:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 755
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1092140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/openended/pseuds/openended
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes a color holds you over until you can get the real thing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	purple and blue

The first time he comes to her quarters after he’s back on the _Normandy_ , she’s in the shower. EDI informs him that Shepard’s given him permission to enter her quarters unannounced whenever he wishes (which later he’ll realize is suspiciously close to _living together_ and he’ll panic for a few minutes before she tells him to relax, he can ring the doorbell if he wants) and unlocks the door.

He blinks, her quarters are darker than he remembers, and studies the room for other changes. Her fish are gone, but the hamster’s safely in his cage on her desk, running away on his wheel. Garrus drops in a few food pellets for him. About half the model ships are in their case, and there’s a piece of paper stuck to the glass with a list of all her models; ones she’s found have been crossed off. Her battered helmet is missing (and he’s not sad to see it go, never sure why she wanted that reminder), and so is the prothean relic on the coffee table. The viewport above the bed is still open (and he’s glad, because he has fond memories of mass effect blue reflected over her bare skin below him), but parts of the walls are ripped out, cables and circuits visible through missing panels.

"Hey."

He turns from staring at the empty fish tank, wondering why the fish are gone but the props remain, and smiles at her. “Hey,” he returns, unsure where they stand. Her kiss in the main battery had cleared up a lot of questions, but this is war and what little time they had together before she had to return to Earth was spent pointedly not talking about the future.

"Had to make a quick exit," she waves at the cables coiled by her bed, "they were in the process of ripping out all of Cerberus’ crap and upgrading when the Reapers attacked."

He’d figured as much. Living quarters on Menae hadn’t exactly been fully constructed either.

Now that they’re off duty, and now that they’ve caught up on the professional parts of their lives, he takes a moment to study her. She looks good. More than good.

Last time he saw her she’d been drawn thin, hollows under her eyes and tension in her shoulders so strong he’s surprised she ever got the knots out. He remembers chipped red nail polish; they were pushing so hard at the end there she didn’t always have time to redo it before missions. But now she smiles and he believes it; she looks like herself again. He knows there’s stress building under the surface. Anger, too. But it’s diminished from when he last saw her and no longer obvious; even her scars have calmed some.

Maybe six months down was a benefit, somehow.

But her nails are blue. He tilts his head, making sure that it’s not just the dim light and the fish tank. “I thought you painted them red,” he says.

She blinks at him in confusion, before following his gaze to her feet. “Oh, yeah. I, uhm,” her voice fades off and she looks away for a moment.

"Shepard?"

"I wanted you in my squad on Menae. And Mars. And…and Earth, while I was stuck in lockup and had nothing to do but count ceiling tiles and wonder if Vega could benchpress Wrex. I didn’t know if I’d ever find you again, so…the blue reminded me of you. Made me think you were with me somehow."

He’d wondered about the blue stripe on her armor; it had been purple for most of the Collector mission. Except, he realizes, when she’d come for him. It had been blue then, too. He leans down, bumping his forehead to hers. “I painted my gun purple and black,” he admits.

She laughs and wraps her arms around his waist. “I missed you, Garrus.”

"I missed you too, Shepard."

She pulls away and catches his hand and gently tugs him toward the bed. He waits for her to get comfortable before he joins her, resting his head on her stomach; it took some experimenting that first night, but they eventually found a few positions like this that worked for both of them. He hums contentedly when her fingers trace over his crest.

"Wrex is full-grown, Vega doesn’t stand a chance. Grunt, maybe."

"I thought about that, but the image wasn’t nearly as funny."

"I wonder if Vega would let us test this."

"You bring it up to him."

"…nevermind."


End file.
